Though Staten Island taxpayers fund the salaries of their local police officers, the number of cops patrolling each precinct in the borough is shrouded in secrecy.
Department officials not only refused repeated requests from the Advance request for the numbers, but also ignored a letter from the borough's three City Council representatives asking for the data that was sent to Commissioner Raymond Kelly weeks ago.
A letter requesting the exact number of officers in the 120th, 122nd and 123rd precincts on the Island sent to Kelly by the borough's three councilmen on March 12 has gone unanswered, as has a follow-up letter sent April 28.
The department also did not disclose the stationhouse breakdown for the Advance after repeated inquiries, but did give a total estimate of 900 officers working on the Island.
The NYPD's withholding of specific staffing levels comes at a time when the force's headcount has been drastically reduced, due to recruiting troubles the city blames on a $25,100 starting salary, which is in place as the officers' union and the Bloomberg administration continue to butt heads over a contract.
An independent arbitration panel is expected to soon settle the nearly 4-year-old contract dispute.
Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) said the letter was sent, in part, to help him make the case that the borough is understaffed, which he believes is partly fueling the recent spike in crime.
The councilmen's letter asks for staffing levels in the three precincts from five, 10, 15 and 20 years ago.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, during an editorial board meeting with the commissioner and the Advance earlier this month, said the department is hesitant to give detailed information on staffing levels for fear it would give criminals too much inside information into the workings of the force.
Browne only said there were "about 900 police officers and detectives assigned to Staten Island this year."
That, he said was a decrease of eight people that was "more than offset" by overtime, which translates into 25 full-time officers; by an additional 20 officers assigned to the borough last month, and by another 92 officers from narcotics, warrants, gang and auto crime divisions. The total staffing increase, Browne said, is a net gain of 129 people.
When the Advance asked again for the specific, precinct-by-precinct breakdown, the request was ignored.